Cable tensioners may be used to apply tension to a surgical cable. In one approach, the surgical cable has one end attached to a locking device, such as a crimp, and another end which is looped around a bone, advanced through the crimp, and advanced through a cable tensioner. To tension the surgical cable, a distal end of the cable tensioner is positioned against the crimp and a tensioning mechanism of the cable tensioner is operated to tension the surgical cable. Once the desired tension has been applied to the surgical cable, the crimp is fixed to the cable to hold the applied tension in the cable and secure the tensioned cable around the bone.
Some cable tensioners have complicated tensioning mechanisms with many components. The components can include for example a device to grip the surgical cable, a linkage to shift the cable away from the distal end of the cable tensioner and tension the surgical cable, a ratchet to resist movement of the device back toward the cable tensioner distal end, and a tension gauge. These more complicated tensioning mechanisms may render the cable tensioner unsuitable for being disposable from a cost perspective.
Another problem with some cable tensioners is that the cable tensioners have a ratchet for resisting loss of tension in the cable during a tensioning operation. The ratchet may include a pawl that engages recesses of a rack. However, as the pawl shifts out of recesses of the rack during a tensioning operation, the rack could shift backward before the pawl engages one of the recesses and cause a loss of tension in the cable.